Ch6. Agile and Scrum — Half the PMP Exam

The Agile Manifesto (2001)

Four core values:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan

The Scrum Framework

3 Roles

Product Owner (PO):

Owns and prioritizes the Product Backlog
Maximizes business value
Bridge between stakeholders and the team

Scrum Master (SM):

Facilitates the Scrum process
Removes impediments
Servant leader — protects and supports the team

Development Team:

Self-organizing, cross-functional
3–9 members
Delivers “Done” increments each sprint

5 Events (All Time-Boxed)

Event	Time-box	Purpose
Sprint	1–4 weeks	The execution unit
Sprint Planning	Max 8 hours	Select goal and backlog items
Daily Scrum	15 minutes	Synchronize, identify impediments
Sprint Review	Max 4 hours	Demo increment, get feedback
Sprint Retrospective	Max 3 hours	Process improvement

3 Artifacts

Product Backlog: PO-managed, prioritized list of requirements.

Sprint Backlog: Items selected for the current sprint.

Increment: The potentially shippable product delivered at sprint end.

Definition of Done (DoD): The team’s shared criteria for when work is truly “done.” Without a clear, agreed DoD, technical debt accumulates and quality suffers. This is a core Scrum concept tested frequently on the PMP exam.

Kanban

Optimizes flow by visualizing work and limiting Work-In-Progress (WIP).

To Do | In Progress (max 3) | Review (max 2) | Done
──────────────────────────────────────────────────
task1 |    task3            |   task5        |task6
task2 |    task4            |               |

WIP limits: Cap the number of simultaneous items in each column → reduces multitasking → improves throughput and identifies bottlenecks.

Velocity and Burndown Charts

Velocity: Team’s average story points completed per sprint. Used to forecast future capacity.

Burndown Chart: Remaining work decreasing over sprint days.

Story Points
↑
|  ╲ Ideal line
|    ╲___
|         ╲ Actual line
|              ╲
+──────────────── Sprint Days

Key Concept Cards

PO vs SM vs Dev Team ★★★★★ : PO=what (backlog priorities), SM=how (process facilitation), Dev Team=execution (self-organizing).

Definition of Done (DoD) ★★★★★ : Team’s consensus on “done” criteria. Absence leads to technical debt accumulation and quality problems.

WIP Limits ★★★★☆ : Core of Kanban. Constraining simultaneous work improves flow and makes bottlenecks visible.

Practice Quiz

Q1. Mid-sprint, a stakeholder urgently requests an additional feature. What should the Scrum Master do?

Protect the current sprint goal. Direct the stakeholder to add the request to the Product Backlog; the Product Owner will prioritize it for the next Sprint Planning. Mid-sprint interruptions disrupt team flow and compromise sprint commitments. Only truly catastrophic discoveries would warrant aborting a sprint.

Q2. What does “self-organizing team” mean in Scrum?

The team autonomously decides how to accomplish the sprint goal — how to divide work, which approaches to use, and how to coordinate. External parties (including PMs) don’t dictate specific task assignments or work methods. This autonomy is the source of agile’s creativity and innovation — teams closest to the work make the implementation decisions.